Wow wow wow wow.  I want the kind of music industry Seth Godin is talking about.  One that doesn’t sue you, but rather leads you into better experiences and a closer sense of community with the artist and other fans.  I have blathered on about this far too often, but I must say I never really thought about exactly how the music industry could move past their dying business today and on to something really new, and really sustainable.

His speech is funny and very pointed, and filled with stuff that resonates with me strongly.  It’s probably the best advice I have heard for them in a while.

 “…if I asked you for the name and address of your 50,000 best customers, could you give it to me? Do you have any clue?”

I love this next part, because that’s what I do to people, but oh so rarely it makes me sad.  I bolded the best part.

“The next idea is this idea of liking. There is a lot of music I like. There is not so much music I love. They didn’t call the show, “I Like Lucy”, they called it “I Love Lucy”. And the reason is you only talk about stuff you love, you only spread stuff you love. You find a band you really love, you’re forcing the CD on other people, “you gotta hear this!”. We gotta stop making music people like. There is an infinite amount of music people like. No one will ever go out of the way to hear, to pay for, music they like. “

Here’s more on the anti-piracy, control the uncontrollable, dam the flood, etc.

“It’s not that you need to say “no, no, no, I can’t let you hear this” it’s “I want you to hear this”. Because if you hear it you might join the tribe, and if you join the tribe then over time I’ll take care of you so well you’ll want to pay me. And then people will be passionate when they hear what you do for a living, they’re going to die to have you help them meet other people in the tribe.”

Of course this next quote ties into the first point: they have no real idea what I listen to, or not a very good idea.  They should be buying me my iPod, letting me fill it for free and keep track of what I am listening to.  Isn’t that more than radio ever gave them?  They have no idea what songs I rate highly, what songs I listen to over and over, what artists I love.  In effect they have no idea what “tribe” I belong to, so they have no easy way to suck the money from my pocket. 

“And so we look at these phrases, “paying attention”. That’s what you’ve wanted people to do all along. “Pay attention to this artist”. Paying is a weird word isn’t it? You want me to pay you something-my attention. And if you’re wrong, I get nothing back. I had to listen to the Backstreet Boys…AHH! I want those three minutes back. So, it’s a weird relationship.” 

I highly recommend you read this and think about how we might eventually, maybe, be paying the music companies for something completely different than the actual music they sell today.